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Renew Our Rivers announces 2018 schedule

By Gilbert Nicholson

January 12, 2018

Volunteers at the spring cleanup of the Black Warrior River in Tuscaloosa as part of Alabama Power's Renew Our Rivers program. (Mark Jerald / Alabama NewsCenter)

Now in its 19th year, Renew Our Rivers (ROR) kicks off again in February with 30 planned cleanups across Alabama. Renew Our Rivers began with Gene Phifer’s vision in 2000 to clean a stretch of the Coosa River near Plant Gadsden, where he worked. Since then, 110,000 volunteers have joined the effort and collected more than 15 million pounds of trash and debris from waterways across the Southeast. That milestone was reached late last year.

“Fifteen million is a staggering number in and of itself,” said Susan Comensky, Alabama Power’s vice president for Environmental Affairs. “But when you apply it to the amount of trash and debris that otherwise would be in these lakes, it is beyond staggering. Renew Our Rivers has made an overwhelming difference.”

In 2017 alone, 4,714 volunteers removed more than 295,000 pounds of trash from Alabama lakes, rivers and shorelines.

Sorority members were among the volunteers who helped make Valley Creek cleaner. (Freshwater Land Trust)

Volunteers help with the spring cleanup of the Black Warrior River in Tuscaloosa as part of Alabama Power’s Renew Our Rivers program. (Mark Jerald / Alabama NewsCenter)

Renew Our Rivers has won numerous awards in its 19 years. (Alabama NewsCenter/file)

Tires are removed from a lake as part of a Renew Our Rivers cleanup. (contributed)

Volunteers have helped remove more than 15 million pounds of trash and debris through their efforts. (Alabama NewsCenter/file)

Volunteers work a Renew Our River cleanup in Village Creek. (Wynter Byrd/Alabama NewsCenter)

“Renew Our Rivers got its start with a single power company employee, but it has been embraced and championed by volunteers, young and old, across the Southeast,” said Mike Clelland, an Environmental Affairs specialist with Alabama Power who coordinates ROR cleanups. Alabama Power employee volunteers assist at each Alabama cleanup, providing guidance and supplies to event organizers.